Kukla's Korner Hockey

Entries with the tag: donald brashear

No stranger to fighting, Donald Brashear is looking to mixed martial arts.

A spokeswoman for promoter Ringside MMA says it has reached agreement with the former NHL enforcer to try his hand at cage-fighting.

“Despite Brashear’s lack of experience in MMA, he’s a very athletic guy, he’s in good shape, he’s gutsy, he’s learning pretty fast and showed an early interest and motivation,” the spokeswoman said. “Plus, he’s no stranger to fighting.

The 39-year-old Brashear still has to pass a medical and get a license to fight from Quebec authorities. Ringside says it expects to file the application when the government offices open Tuesday.

The plan is for Brashear to fight on the Ringside 11 card June 4 at the Quebec Coliseum.

It’s been 15 years since Donald Brashear lived the life of a minor league hockey player, chartering buses instead of jets to get from game to game.

Usually players making $1.4 million per year don’t take too kindly to going back to the American Hockey League. Brashear is not one of those players. The 38-year-old was sent down to the Hartford Wolf Pack by the parent New York Rangers on Feb. 12 and has infused the Hartford locker room with veteran leadership.

“I’m just coming to play my game,” Brashear said after the Wolf Pack defeated the Springfield Falcons 4-2 on Friday at the MassMutual Center. “I’m a physical player. Sometimes you need to get physical, sometimes you don’t.”

Let’s get this straight. The decision to sign free agent Washington thug Donald Brashear—who appeared to spend an inordinate amount of time since the end of lockout attempting to injure Rangers before finally succeeding with the Game 6 blindside blow to Blair Betts’ head that knocked him out of the playoffs with a broken orbital bone and concussion—represents an indelible stain on the family concept preached by head coach John Tortorella….

Obviously neither Tortorella nor GM Glen Sather thinks so, but it’s our belief the signing of Brashear breaks a bond with the team’s fan-base as well as with the team’s players. It shouldn’t matter whether Betts is here or not. This should not have been done.

I’m hearing that enforcer Donald Brashear’s future with the Caps could be determined next week, when he speaks to GM George McPhee.

Brashear, who is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, will represent himself in the discussion with McPhee.

It’s unclear if McPhee plans to ask Brashear, 37, to play for less than the $1.2 million he earned this season. It’s also unclear if Brashear would consider accepting less to come back to Washington, where he’s popular among his teammates and a locker room leader.

TORONTO (April 27, 2009) - Washington Capitals forward Donald Brashear has been suspended for a total of six games as a result of two separate incidents—one prior to and one during Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series Sunday against the New York Rangers.

Brashear was suspended one game for initiating contact with Rangers forward Colton Orr during the pre-game warm-up. Brashear was suspended for five additional games for a blind-side hit on New York forward Blair Betts at 9:54 of the first period.

“Brashear delivered a shoulder hit to an unsuspecting player,” said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. “It is also my opinion that the hit was delivered late and targeted the head of his opponent, causing significant injury.”

Brashear’s suspension will be served beginning tomorrow night when the Capitals meet the Rangers in Game Seven of the series. The suspension will extend through the Capitals’ next five 2009 playoff games, the 2009-10 regular season, or both, as circumstances warrant.

ESPN just retracted on SportsCenter, stating that Mike Green and Donald Brashear have not been suspended, yet. However they both now have a hearing at 1pm today. This is according to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun.

There were a couple of hard-hitting bouts in the opening period, with the Predators coming out on top in both. Wade Belak buckled Donald Brashear with a straight left and dropped him to the ice, while Jordin Tootoo turned Matt Bradley’s face into a bloody mess — cutting Bradley’s nose badly and giving him a black eye to boot.

“We have guys that can battle each and every night and that’s part of our team,’’ Tootoo said. “We play physical and bring it all.’‘

Brashear didn’t return after the fight and might have sprained a knee when he fell to the ice.

At which point Brashear gave out his e-mail address over the radio. I’ll withhold that address for now, although it’s obviously not that hard to find. And what happened next? Aside from a Junkie saying “silly”?

“Five minutes later I’m getting [bleepin’] emails coming in, coming out,” Brashear said. “I’m thinking, ‘A lot of people want to talk to the players, so why not just start a blog and see where it goes?’ “

Brashear’s father had been in real estate, and he always wanted to get involved in that industry, and he’s already thinking about what he’ll do post-hockey. And so he and his buddies formed the company and built two houses-a one-level home and a cottage—this summer in Quebec City. And yes, Brashear was out at the sites, using nail guns and making cuts with electric saws and doing some roofing and lifting trusses and putting in hardwood floors and working on ceramic tiles. You know, the usual offseason stuff.

“It’s my company; I want to show the guys that I can be out there and working,” he told me.